Coconuts for Sale

Palm trees offer such a magnificence of wonder: the horizontally striped bark; the giant fronds, dipping towards the earth; a peek-through of the sapphire sky through deep green slivers of windows; a shady spot to sip coconut milk from the real thing, if you’re lucky enough to find a guy willing to haggle a bit over the price of the coconut.

“Twenty bucks for a coconut? What? No way?” That’s more than half my spending money for the day, and I’m feeding two kids plus me. Then I feel guilty; I have so much. But at the same time, I sure didn’t have that much in my pocket. I found a boy selling his fruit for eight bucks which still seemed expensive, but a better deal nonetheless. I couldn’t resist the experience. And even if I did overpay (I’m not sure), I still go home to luxury and money enough for what I need plus a lot more. Handing those dollars to this sweaty kid sure seemed like a good enough reason to drink the luscious milk of a just-picked coconut at least once in your life. Ah, the real thing was quite grand.

Photograph taken and coconut eaten at Tulum, Mexico on the Yucatan Peninsula. January 1, 2008.